Electric heater or vaporizer



Nov. 24, 1925. 1,562,673

L. E. ASKE ELECTRIC HEATER OR YAPORIZER Filed April 29, 1924 Y iya. I E. e

8 1g a; In I i 1 11 IN V EN TOR.

ATTORNEY!- Patented Nov. 24, 1925.

UNITED STATES LEONARD E. ASKE, 0F DULUTH, MINNESOTA.

ELECTRIC HEATER OR VAPORIZEB.

Application filed April 29, 192 1.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEONARD E. Asxn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Duluth, in the county of St. Louis and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Heaters or Vaporizers, of which 1 do hereby declare the following to be a specification.

My invention relates to electric vaporizer-s, and has for its object the provision of an improved electric vaporizer for heating and vaporizing hydrocarbon oils for fuel in hydrocarbon engines, and for such other purposes as may be practicable. lVith this and other objects in view, it consists of the structures, combinations, and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a central vertical section through the case of a heating element and porous reservoir, said element and reservoir being omitted. Fig. 2 is a central vertical View of said case, showing the heating element therein in side elevation, omitting said porous reservoir. Fig. 3

, is a central vertical transverse section, partly in elevation through a fuel supply pipe, or carburetor throat, showing a housing formed thereon, in which is shown said case, heating element and porous reservoir. Fig. 4c is a vertical longitudinal section of said Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view of the heating element forming part of said invention. Fig. 6 is a reduced side elevation of one form of a carburetor bowl and throat, showing my invention mounted therein.

In the drawings, a case comprising a chambered portion 1, a flange portion 2, a nut portion 3, and preferably a screen l adapted to be secured transversely of the lower end of said chambered portion by a retaining ring 5. Said chambered portion is preferably cylindrical and exteriorly threaded for a portion of its length to engage interior threads upon the hereinafter described housing. An electric binding post 6 extends through said nut portion and into said chamber and is spaced from contact with said case by any suitable insulating means, as by washers 7, 8, 9 and 10 of insulating material.

A high resistance electric conductor as a wire 11, adapted to become heated by an electric current flowing through it, is electrically connected in any suitable manner Serial No. 709,791.

within said chamber to said post and to said case, preferably extending from said post to said case by an indirect course. Said wire is thus adapted to form anele'ctric conductor between said post and said case. In adjusting said wire I prefer to form a loop 11 in it intermediate of its ends and secure said loop to said post in any suitable manner as by clamping it between the foot of said post and a nut 1-2 mounted on said post near the foot thereof, and to then form a plurality of loops as 1 3. 14; 15 and 16 in said wire intermediate of the first said loop and the ends of said wire extending lengthwise of said chamber, and spaced from said post and case, the ends of said wire being electrically connected to, and grounded upon said case in any suitable manner as by clamping thesame to the wall of a recess 17 in said case by means of a set screw 18 extending into said recess. Thus, in effect, said centrally looped wire will form parallel electric circuits between said post and case, but if desired the central loop may be severed without changing the result. WVhen said wire has been secured as aforesaid, said chamber is filled with a porous refractory cement, 19, adapted to form a rigid porous sponge or reservoir, the lower bends of said loops 13, 14, 15 and 16 being very slightly free of said cement or exposed therefrom in any suitable manner, whether by permitting them to extend slightly below the cement body, or by forming channels to them through the cement from the bottom face thereof.

The bottom end of said chamber and reservoir are then preferably covered by a woven wire or other suitable screen 4: which may or may not contact with said cement but in order to avoid short circuiting the electric current it should not contact with said heater wire. If, therefore, the heater wire loops are exposed below the bottom face of said cement, said screen may be slightly cupped so as to avoid contact with them, such being the preferred structure. In Fig. 6 is shown one form of carburetor bowl, 20, and throat 21, which throat comprises one form of a conduit for hydrocarbon fuel mixture flowing from said carburetor to the cylinder of an engine, not shown, but well known to the art. Formed at any convenient place upon said throat or conduit (but preferably on the vacuum side of the carburetor valve), and communicating broadly with the fuel passage therein, is a housing 22 adapted to receive the chambered portion of said case, which is adapted to extend into said housing preferably only to a plane tangent to the main fuel passage in said throat or conduit so as not to obstruct the fuel passage; but I do not desire to restrict myself to the precise position or extent of penetration of my said device with respect to said throat or fuel passage.

One purpose of said wire screen is to prevent the falling of any cement chips into the fuel passage, but if desired said screen may be omitted.

A ring or gasket preferably of copper or soft metal is preferably interposed between said flange and the to of said housing. lhe preferred cylindrica form of said reservoir case and its engaging threads are important for the reason, among others, that it may be quickly and easily assembled with or removed from said housing and effectually seals the oils, vapors or gases against escape from the top of the housing, and forms a good and easily established ground for one end of the heating wire.

The porous cement sponge or reservoir embodies material advantages over other forms of sponges or reservoirs in that the degree of porosity can be easily fixed and maintained, which is highly desirable in making sponge or porous reservoirs for different qualities or grades of oils. Another important advantage is that said vaporizer may be positioned in the under side of such fuel conduit without danger of its being rendered ineffective by being flooded with oil.

In ope-ration, the vaporizer may be primed with a little fuel oil or gasoline before being installed in said housing. The heating element is then connected in any suitable n'ianner with any suitable and convenient source of electricity, whereupon the current flowing through the heater wire heats said Wire to a high temperature which heats and vaporizes the oil in said sponge. At or about the same time the engine is started in any suitable manner as by cranking, or by a startin motor, and the movement of the engine piston, or pistons, draws fuel direct from said carburetor to the engine cylin ders. :it'tllG same time the heated and ya porized fuel in said sponge follows said heater wire to theexposed ends of said loops and escapes through said screen direct into the passing stream of fuel mixture from said carburetor or other source of supply. without first contacting with the walls of said fuel conduit. ine hot vapor therefore tends to heat and vaporize any particles of condensed fuel mixture in said stream, but of still greater importance said vapor from said vaporizer is generated in such a volume of hot, dense fumes that it will itself be sufiicient in quality and quantity to start the engine when said engine is at a low temperature. In fact some of the hot fumes from the vaporizer will, because of a shorter distance to travel and less weight, precede the flow of fuel direct from the carburetor. It will be observed that my invention is primarily a starting device, although if desired its operation may be continued after starting. Usually it is desirable to stop the vaporizing operation of said device after the engine has started on its own fuel and has become warm. This is effected by opening the circuit in which said heating element is included, as by opening a manually operated switch or in any suitable manner if desired said heating element may be connected or interposed in any suitable manner in the circuit of an electric starting motor, so that closing the circuit of the starting motor will at the same time close the circuit of the vaporizer, and opening the circuit of the starting motor will at the same time open the circuit of the vaporizer.

After the first priming the reservoir of said vaporizer will automatically refill by absorbing fuel moisture from the fuel conduit because of the vacuum created in the chamber, or by gravity feed.

It will be obvious that my said invention may be altered or modified in various particulars within the spirit and scope of certain of my claims.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a fluid conduit having ahousing thereon, of a case extending into said housing and containing a chamber open at the inner end, a binding post extending into said chamber and spaced from said case, an electric heating wire within said chamber, said wire being electrically connected to said post and to said case, a porous cementitious refractory filling for aid chamber adapted to envelop the major portion of said wire, a small portion of said wire being exposed to the fuel passage in said fuel conduit.

2. The combination of a case containing a chamber open at one end, a binding post extending into said chamber through one of the walls of said chamber and spaced from said case, an electric heating wire within said chamber, said wire being electrically connected to said post and to said case, said wire being adapted to form an electric resistance conductor bet-ween said post and said case, and a porous refractory cementitious insulating filling for said chamber, said filling bein adapted to cover the major part of said wire, a small portion of said wire being exposed from said filling.

3. The combination of a metallic case containing a chamber open at one end, an electric heating element positioned Within said. chamber, a porous refractory cementitious filling for said chamber, said filling being adapted to cover the major portion of said Wire.

4. The combination of a metallic case having a chamber therein open at one end, an electric heating element Within said chamber, a porous refractory filling for said chamber, said filling being adapted to cover the major portion of said Wire, a screen extending across the open end of said chamher, and means for securing said screen to said case.

5. The combination with a tubular fluid conduit having a housing thereon, said housing having a cylindrical bore extending at an angle to the bore of said conduit, a metallic case having a chamber formed therein open at one end, said case being adapted to extend into said housing to a plane approximately tangent to the bore of said fluid conduit, an electric heating element Within said chamber, a porous refractory cementitious filling for said chamber adapted to cover the major portion of said heating element, a screen extending across one end of said chamber, and means for securing said screen to said case.

6. The combination With a tubular fluid conduit having a housing thereon of a case containing a chamber open at one end, said case extending into said housing and engaging the Walls thereof on all sides, a heating element Within said chamber, and a hard porous refractory absorbent filling for said chamber, said filling being adapted to closely envelop the major portion of said heating element.

7. The combination of a case having a chamber formed therein open at one end, an electric binding post extending into said chamber and spaced from said case, a resistance Wire electrically connected to said post and to one of the Walls of said case, said wire intermediate of said post and case being bent to form loops extending approximatel parallel With the longitudinal axis of said chamber, a porous refractory hard absorbent filling for said chamber adapted to closely envelop the major part of said Wire, the extreme ends of said loops adjacent to the exposed face of said filling being free from cover by said filling.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aflix my signature.

LEONARD E. ASKE. 

